


Where We Collide

by cluelesspaladin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A love story told in snippets, Fantasy AU, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, SHEITH - Freeform, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22568908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cluelesspaladin/pseuds/cluelesspaladin
Summary: The first time Shiro sees Keith, the fire nymph is taking down a fae three times his size with nothing but sheer determination and thinks that the kid needs a good meal or two.He can’t help the gobsmacked look that crosses his features when the nymph then proceeds to throw the fae over his shoulder and walk away like it was nothing. Shiro knows nymphs tend to have strength others can only fathom, but this is a little ridiculous.It doesn’t help that Keith practically sashays away.(The avian then proceeds to walk into a lamp post and Matt can’t stop laughing to the point he lies down on the cobbled ground and wheezes.)-A love story told in 10 parts.
Relationships: Shiro/Keith
Comments: 5
Kudos: 82





	Where We Collide

**Author's Note:**

> A quick little thought that grew into something else. God help me.

**I**

The first time Shiro sees Keith, the fire nymph is taking down a fae three times his size with nothing but sheer determination and thinks that the kid needs a good meal or two.

He can’t help the gobsmacked look that crosses his features when the nymph _then_ proceeds to throw the fae over his shoulder and walk away like it was nothing. Shiro knows nymphs tend to have strength others can only fathom, but this is a little ridiculous.

It doesn’t help that Keith practically _sashays_ away.

(The avian then proceeds to walk into a lamp post and Matt can’t stop laughing to the point he lies down on the cobbled ground and wheezes.)

**II**

The second time, Shiro actually talks to the kid.

(He can’t help but call pretty much anyone that title, it’s apparently an avian thing.)

They’re both in the training yard watching a half-orc named Hunk and an ice caster named Lance go at it. Of course, there are others in the vicinity- it isn’t called a training yard for nothing; but Keith found himself intrigued by the half-orc and Shiro had migrated to his side like a magnet.

Lance is skilled, but the fact that he is obviously showing off is clear and Hunk takes him down without much fanfare. Gently, of course. The half-orc is renowned around the campus for being the sweetest thing on the planet, reputation or no.

Keith has an odd half smile on his features as he fends off Shiro’s slightly overbearing nature, eyes flicking between the older male’s large tawny wings and his face. It’s distinctly clear that he doesn’t quite know how to interact with others; his arms are loosely crossed over his chest despite listening and there is a tenseness to his shoulders that doesn’t go away the entire time that Shiro is next to him.

Shiro can _feel_ Matt and Katie’s eyes locked onto him from somewhere, but neither of the lion shifters is to be found.

The suspicion remains, however.

**III**

Shiro is persistent. Keith can give him that.

The avian somehow takes it upon himself to just _be_ wherever Keith happens to be.

_At all times._

Granted, most avians tend to gather a flock amongst themselves; he knows that the Holt duo are counted among that number in regard to Shiro.

He’s also witnessed several occasions in which the younger of the pair gives up and lets the larger man do what he pleases, which is _endlessly_ entertaining.

What he can’t figure out is why Shiro seems interested in spending so much time near _him_.

Keith is wary by nature; fire nymphs aren’t exactly the most sociable of groups, and the fact that the ice caster seems to be out to get him despite never making an effort to get to know him sends a prickle down the back of his neck. Irritation, maybe.

He’s still new to this life, having grown up in the wastes to the south. Being here in an “academy”, for lack of a better term, has made him even more paranoid than usual. His mother’s knife hangs heavily at his side, the cool metal a constant balm against his overheated skin.

Speak of the devil now, there’s Shiro.

The avian doesn’t seem to know- or care- how many eyes followed him around as he approached, an easy grin on his features. Perhaps it was idle curiosity; word had spread when the northern nests had been attacked by Galra, leaving only a handful of their race alive. Shiro had apparently been one of the lucky ones. Only a scar across his nose attested to the past that he had suffered.

Keith wonders, but he never voices the questions that he has himself. It wouldn’t be fair to pry into the private lives of others, even if Shiro is unnervingly open about pretty much everything.

**IV**

Despite Keith’s efforts at avoiding him, Shiro is still able to keep tabs on the dark-haired nymph. Matt thinks it’s hilariously adorable and calls him a stalker. Katie just rolls her eyes, seeing the same kind of fixation that the man had had when he’d been trying to convince she and Matt to join his flock. Granted, he hadn’t actually realized that was what he’d been doing at the time, but regardless of that fact the truth stood.

Things take a turn for the worst- or amusing- when Keith and Shiro, amongst a handful of others, are selected for a run out into Galra territory. The necromancers have been staking claim on land closer and closer to Altea, and the Queen has decided enough is enough.

Which is how Katie gets a front row seat to watching Keith and Shiro interact with one another as well as with Hunk and Lance. Lance, Katie can tolerate. Hunk is intelligent, Keith is an emotional walking disaster, and Shiro is the oddly overprotective leader who refuses to let any of them out of sight.

It’s two-parts annoying, one part oddly endearing.

** V **

Shiro is gone. 

The Galra attacked in the night, dragging the avian off as the rest of their small band struggles to survive the shadowy blades that appear out of nowhere.

Keith takes down six on his own, flames roaring off of his skin like an avenging demon, before one of theirs cast a water spell at him. It’s not like other water spells he’s encountered- it slams into his chest with the force of a boulder, knocking the wind out of him immediately and dragging him to his knees.

Fire nymphs can’t survive without their flame. What better way to take him down than with a wave of water?

He’s heaving for breath and barely able to see Shiro’s panicked eyes before he collapses, shivering at the foreign sensation of the frigid cold that burrows into his flesh and bones.

**VI**

It isn’t easy trying to keep a fire nymph alive when the only one vaguely capable of healing the damage is an ice caster with very little experience in healing anything other than physical damage. Spell damage is a whole other monster; Lance’s hands are shaking as he kneels next to Keith’s unmoving form. The nymph’s skin has already turned an ashen shade of grey by the time Lance rolls him onto his back, eyes half lidded and definitely not in the realm of entirely conscious.

Lance has an affinity for water spells, but his abilities manifested themselves into ice magic early on. Regardless of that fact, he knows a few basic healing spells, and immediately gets to work trying to save Keith’s life. Twice, Lance fears Keith stops breathing.

Pidge pulls Keith’s head into her lap, hands shakily combing through his hair for the hours it takes before Lance thinks the man might live. He’ll never be without permanent marks- a wide, vaguely oval patch of skin where the spell initially hit is several shades lighter than Keith’s already pale skin.

“Don’t you dare die.” He threatens the barely breathing nymph. “We still have to rescue Shiro.”

**VII**

Keith doesn’t die.

Fierce rage fuels him to cling onto what life he can as he crawls out of the hole the Galra put him in. Flame surges through his veins as he sits up, breathing ash out of his lungs and getting to his feet.

They took something from him. Something precious that had wormed its way into his chest and nestled there like some kind of weed in the cracks, and if the Galra thought they would be able to take that from a fire nymph, they were dead wrong.

** VIII **

****

The battle rages around them as Keith drags a half conscious Shiro from the rubble of the prison the Galra had been keeping him as some kind of “pet”. It was the loosest term he could think of without baring his teeth in a snarl and losing control of his innate flame.

In reality, they had used him for sport. One of the last of his kind, pit against other prisoners like some kind of arena. 

Pidge is roaring something, throat halfway to that of her lion lineage as she leaps into the fray, golden eyes wild. Hunk and Lance have banded together as something of a battering ram to push through the Galra in Keith’s way- for the best, as he’s itching for a fight and he’s one second away from losing it completely.

Keith had been caught slinking around the perimeter of the prison like a wolf, eyes glowing gold like the flame that burned in his veins. His bad, he would admit- Katie will rip him a new one for it later.

The Galra drag him in, strip off his shirt and throw him into the Pit against the Champion.

Shiro.

It’s only been a matter of weeks, but something terrible happened to the avian. Missing an arm, one wing held awkwardly to the side, Keith’s blood boils as the man stalks toward him. A light that had been in his eyes is gone. A sword is in his remaining hand.

Keith watches, and he knows immediately he can’t stop Shiro. Not without hurting him.

Not without killing him.

**IX**

Katie is, of course, righteously pissed at Keith as they make it back to safety.

Matt, bless his beautiful soul, had sounded the alarm and brings half an army with him to tear the Galra down a few pegs. The Queen herself is among them, and she tends to Shiro and Keith’s wounds with her soft pink magic at her fingers.

Keith resists weakly, the wound in his face throbbing, before allowing himself to pass out.

**X**

“Your feet are freezing.” Keith whines, attempting to squirm away from the offending limbs and get the blanket between them as a barrier.

“And you’re warm.” Shiro retorts sleepily, nosing into his neck with a content sigh. “Let me steal your heat.”

“No.”

“Please?”

Keith makes a sound that Shiro can’t place, giving up on wriggling out of the vice that are Shiro’s arms around his slender waist. He could make an attempt, but then he would still have to dig his way out of the feathery nest that Shiro’s wing made overtop him.

Stupid feathery doofus. Always foiling his plans.

Shiro snuffles contentedly in the back of his neck, and Keith can’t help but sigh, relaxing slightly.

“Why are you awake so early?” the avian wonders aloud.

“Because your toes-“he shifts, “are like ice. What the hell did you do, stick them in the freezer?”

Shiro makes a non-committal noise in the back of his throat that sounds suspiciously like a chirrup before falling silent, breathing even as he basks in Keith’s presence.

“Dork.” Keith mutters without heat, twisting so that he’s face to face with Shiro. His dark eyes gleam in the dim light under his wing as he watches Keith with a soft expression.

“Maybe.”

“You and Matt fought over a Voltron toy last week.” Keith points out. “And you _lost_.”

“Okay, fine.” Shiro concedes. “I might be a _little_ bit dorky.”

Keith raises one brow silently, silently challenges the statement. It’s hard to keep a straight face at the petulant expression Shiro dons, but he manages.

Shiro sighs, averting his gaze and settling on the pale patch of skin dead center in his chest. His flesh hand moves from Keith’s waist to the mark, tracing it with a solemn expression. Neither of them need to say anything; Keith is content to stay still and allow Shiro’s warm hand to grant some warmth to the scar. Shiro’s hand moves from chest to cheek, where his sword cut a line from throat to just below his eye.

“Don’t.” Keith says firmly. He knows Shiro blames himself for it.

(He’s stupidly self-sacrificing, Keith notices.)

“Don’t.” he says again, softer. He doesn’t have to say anything else.

Shiro sighs; pulls Keith close. Keith twines his fingers with Shiro’s and presses soft lips to the knuckles.

“I love you.”

“You too.”


End file.
